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All posts for the month February, 2013

Having visited here at least once a year for the past twenty or thirty years, I am starting to run out of things to say and do here in Scottsdale. Scottsdale brags about 314 days of sunny weather each year. June, July, and August are the warmest months, with average temps well over 100 degrees F. The average rainfall is only 7.66 inches per year. The official food of Scottsdale has been “chili” since 1994.

The typical tourist to Scottsdale is 56 years old, and earns about $100,000 annually. The average nightly hotel rate is about $140 a night. During Spring Training, I am sure it is much higher. Car rental rates are also inflated during this period. Reservations at the better restaurants are also difficult to get. Contrast this to the Christmas Holidays when the bowl teams and their rabid fans are here. The baseball crowd is decidedly cheap beer, with lots of families, and fairly low budget. The bowl scene is more about high rollers, crazy fans willing to spend, and the bright sun creating too much brain damage on the folks from points east and north, where it is COLD!

Golf is always a big deal here, though pricey this time of year. The latest and newest attractions are the “Course Cuties” shown in the photo. They supply the beer and entertainment!!!

Hopefully, I will be able to squeeze into my favorite places while here. This would be places like Ling and Louie, Los Sombreros, and Jason’s Deli. I will avoid the more famous and baseball centric places like the Pink Pony and Don and Charlie’s. Fortunately, Scottsdale is full of mediocre and expensive places to eat. Breakfast though, is always a highlight at the Good Egg, with several locations in the Valley. But the location in Scottsdale is the best!!!

See you in the Valley of the Sun (although the Bay Area has been fabulous the last few days)!!!

I saw the first episode of Dangerous Grounds on the Travel Channel purely by mistake. The reason I started watching at all was the journey through Bolivia’s infamous ‘Death Road”, often called the most dangerous road in the world. This insane adventurer, Todd Carmichael, travels the world in search of the best coffee. The TC is trying to call him the Anthony Bourdain of sustainable coffee. And who would ever think that television would have an adventure show based on the search for great coffee beans?

Todd Carmichael is an adventurer that puts me and Mike to shame. He holds the world record for the fastest unsupported trek to the South Pole. He also tried to be the first person to cross Death Valley unaided. Now that makes our trek through most of Chile look like a walk in the proverbial park. But this quest is not about being an adventurer, it is about finding a great cup of coffee.

He travels around the world with a camera guy, nicknamed, “Hollywood.” Where have they gone? Try this for a list of places you might never go. His ports of call: Bolivia, Haiti, Borneo, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, and Columbia, hardly tourist destinations. Of these, I have been to Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Malaysia (Borneo).

Nevertheless, Carmichael was probably vaccinated with an even more virulent adventure vaccine than Bourdain. The show is aired on Mondays at 9pm on the Travel Channel. Is he the charming and charismatic host that the Scripps Network relishes? You decide. Yes, he is successful, this man who has adopted four young children. He ran his first ultra marathon at the age of 20. He is also a humanitarian, raising money for the Orangutan Foundation, as well as the Clinton Global Initiative to raise funds and awareness for a coffee university in Haiti. When not sailing solo across the Atlantic, coffee is his passion. His mantra: taste always trumps novelty.

He does have his own company, called La Colombe Torrefaction, a $25 million business. But he would rather chase down the world’s best coffee. But does the best coffee in the world always grow in the most dangerous places in the world? Personally, when I encounter anyone with a single passion for an objective (no matter how deranged), I stand and applaud, even wish I could share in it in some small way.

For me, the best part is not the travel adventure, but the roasting and tasting process. Carmichael carries a portable roasting device, and a hand grinder. So, when he does find the “green” coffee, he can roast it up on the spot,, grind it, and taste it within an hour or so. The episode that intrigues me is in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. He heads south, to Jimma, the biggest city in southwestern Ethiopia. The coffee is roasted dark and served with sugar.

So, nearly a billion people drink coffee every morning, making it the second most popular commodity after oil. But the beans Todd looks for are grown in high altitudes, remote regions, and from colonial strains originally spread by European explorers of long ago. He ends up buying the beans directly from the growers, often despite language barriers that we can only imagine in a nightmare. He also must dodge the middle men in the coffee equation.

Could I do this if money were no object? I doubt it, as I just do not have the passion for this journey. I am perfectly happy to buy my coffee beans at Peet’s on a monthly basis. Is coffee that important? Would I sleep under my rental car during my search for the best coffee? It is to some, like Todd.

The state of Washington is the only one named after a U.S. President. I would vote to change Arkansas to Clintonville.

Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union. My guess is that they also have the greatest number of Apple computers.

Washington is the birthplace of both Jimi Hendrix and Bing Crosby.

The world’s biggest coffee chain, Starbucks, was founded in Seattle.

Seattle has the largest ferry fleet in the U.S. No more ferry comments, please!

Washington is one of only seven states that does not levy a personal income tax.

United Airlines was originally owned by the Boeing Airplane Company here in Seattle. Smart move to divest.

The percentage of non religious people in Washington is the highest of any state. Could it be “Windows” or the coffee?

Seattle is the most educated city in the U.S. with more than half of residents over 25 years old with a bachelor’s degree.

Seattle sells more sunglasses per capita than any other major city in the U.S. So much for being educated.

Some of my own:

Nobody has an umbrella except for tourists. Locals wear raincoats.

Damon Ono designs the best window displays in town.

Seattle is still upset that the Sonics left for OK City. How embarrassing! Wait until the Seahawks go to Los Angeles!

Wendy Wood is the best fashion producer in the entire Pacific Northwest! Make that the entire west coast!

The best place to sample local cheeses is Beecher’s Handmade Cheese at 1600 Pike Place.

You can still ride the Seattle Monorail from downtown to Seattle Center and back.

There are fewer than two dozen “multi-roaster” cafes in the U.S. They stock specialty coffees from carefully chosen top roasting partners. They don’t roast their own beans and hold no allegiance to any one particular coffee roaster. I will bet you cannot name one!

Got any more?

Here’s one. We went to dinner last night to Cuoco down in the south Lake Union area. We found out they have a new chef and no longer serve their fabulous agnolotti micro-sized ravioli. So, we ordered alternatives. But when Andrew, the manager came by, we mentioned our grave disappointment about the menu change. He returned about 15-20 minutes later with TWO pasta dishes, one of which was our favorite agnolotti! The new chef found the ravioli in the freezer, and prepared it for us, along with one of his new flower shaped cheese filled pastas. Needless to say, that made our evening, and we will be back. Now, if I can only get Lola to make the honey filled tea ball dessert with ginger ice cream!

Did you know that both Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix are buried in Seattle graves? Seattle’s Lakeview Cemetery, on Capitol Hill, just east of downtown is the grave site of many famous Seattle icons. Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon Lee are buried there. Jimi Hendrix is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in nearby Renton. Though he was put to rest in 1970, his grave was moved by his father, Al, to a more lavish memorial in the southwest corner of the cemetery. The memorial has a 30 foot high granite dome, supported by three columns trimmed in rainbow marble.

Many other famous people are buried here. How about Chief Sealth, aka Chief Seattle, for whom the city is named? Among other famous Seattle names of historic proportions: Hiram Chittendon, Arthur Denny, Doc Maynard, Gypsy Rose Lee, Thomas Mercer, John and Hilda Nordstrom, and Henry Yesler. More modern heroes include: Kurt Cobain, Bill Boeing, Ray Charles, Don Coryell, Robert “Birdman” Stroud, Fred Hutchinson, Ted (not Al) Bundy, and Frances Farmer. I wonder if they will bury Bill Gates in Seattle?

Turns out that Janie, Jimi’s “sister” runs the Hendrix Foundation, and has put some sense and sanity into the great Hendrix legacy. Perhaps we can find more musical legacies that turn out so well.

It seems to me that neither great artist was appreciated as much in life, as they are now in death. The only thing I can think of, is that both were minorities, and appealed initially to the youth of their time. They were definitely not mainstream! My message to you, is to get out and see the artists of today, before they are gone forever.

Do you remember the first time you ordered some take out Chinese food? For me, we did not have a Chinese restaurant in our little town of 3,000 Swedes. We did not even have a Swedish restaurant. But we had the best French restaurant in the entire San Joaquin Valley, along with a burger drive-in, a steak joint (The Valley Inn), and that’s about it. The nearest Chinese food was in Hanford, about 30 miles away. It was called The Pagoda, and had a sister restaurant called The Imperial Dynasty, that was popular with the rich and famous of Hollywood. We started eating there sometime in the mid to late Fifties. So for me, the first time I ordered Chinese take out would probably be sometime in the Seventies. But Chinese restaurants have been around in the United States since the 1920s. There are roughly 41,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., or nearly three times the number of McDonald outlets. Some controversy exists as to how this phenomenon came about. The real truth probably lies in a fairly simple origin, with a family kitchen slowly expanding to help feed others in the Chinese community. This would include Chinese miners and railroad workers. Eventually, they allowed non-Chinese to either dine in or order take out. It is as simple as that! These first Chinese eateries of the mid-nineteenth century were called “chow chows.” Remember that racism was rampant, and the Chinese were dubbed “rat eaters.” An old nineteenth century Chinese place in San Francisco Nonetheless, local Chinese places often added familiar items to the menus to attract diners. Items like roast chicken with currant jelly, and grilled dinner steak Hollandaise graced the mostly Chinese menu. Another surprise was the great number of waiters wearing tuxedos, sort of like we encountered in Thailand. Apparently, the Chinese found customers in the almost equally marginalized East European Jews. They flocked to Chinese restaurants to show they were becoming American. After World War 2, many Americans began to see the Americanness” of Chinese food. Though it became an “east meets west” cultural change, the Chinese were still made fun of and often scorned. Some Chinese establishments had the good fortune to give history lessons in their menus. They also explained the origin of Chinese foods, like chop suey and the ubiquitous fortune cookie. They even began to cite Confucius in the Sixties! In 1967, the Ideal Toy Company brought out a Chop Suey board game, which involved picking up things with chopsticks! Hilarious. The Chinese menus actually spoofed themselves Of course, local ingredients had to be adapted and incorporated into traditional Chinese cooking. Some experts say that traditional Chinese cooking emphasizes vegetables much more than America Chinese cooking styles. Basically, it became a style of food not available in China. Native Chinese cuisine emphasizes greens like bok choy and gai lan. Many American Chinese dishes have incorporated carrots, and tomatoes. Love those noodles! Fortunately, multiculturalism and Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 brought cultural change and an “authenticity revolution.” I actually remember the days when there were very few Caucasians in Chinese restaurants. Now, it has done an about face in the suburbs of our country. Most of the patrons are Caucasian, and very few are actually of Chinese origin, except in the Chinatowns of Oakland and San Francisco. Love that duck!!! Interestingly, by the time I went away to college in the Sixties, a group of us would drive over to Oakland Chinatown for a big, but inexpensive dinner. But our first stop was a grocery store, where we bought two liter bottles of soda pop. We often went there on Friday nights, to break the monotony of dorm food, and to prepare for a weekend of drunken revelry. One of my favorite Chinese restaurant stories was located in West Berlin. Looking for a break from heavy German food, my buddy and I found a Chinese restaurant near the hotel. We walked in, and a very German waiter took our order. I was somewhat worried since it did not have the “feel” of a typical Chinese restaurant, especially with the decor, and the lack of chop sticks on the table. But once he took the order to the kitchen and opened the door, I could hear the Chinese chefs talking away in Cantonese at the top of their lungs. Once satisfied we were going to get Chinese food made by Chinese chefs, we settled into a few German beers before lunch. The biggest concern today for some of us is the authenticity of the food. Having been to Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong, Chinese food differs dramatically from here to there. It is possible to find authentic restaurants here, though they have become quite rare. The biggest challenge is finding the right ingredients. The problem has subsided somewhat since there are more ethnic Chinese farms near population centers. It would seem however, that Chinese food has not embraced the more healthy characteristics of the food scene at large.

I am not a big fan of the so called Pan Asian places, other than Roy’s, which is basically more “Hawaiian” than Chinese. Yes, the food appears healthier, and the plates are smaller, almost tapas in concept. The king of this concept is P. F. Chang’s or on a less expensive scale, Pei Wei. However you eat it, at the restaurant, or deliver/takeout at home, the entire notion of Chinese food is totally different than its rather humble origin.

Is there anything better than celebrating a birthday in Seattle? And how about paying off some bets I made with our dear friends who are diehard Seahawks fans? That was one bet that I lost, on December 23, when our Super Bowl bound Forty Niners visited Seattle and laid a big egg! It is going to cost me at least two bottles of champagne! I wonder if they remember that they went double or nothing on the Seahawks game in Atlanta?

Winter in Seattle can be both a blessing and freezing cold or snowing. With a mild winter so far, I am expecting four days of bright sunshine. But regardless of the weather, we will enjoy Seattle, its fine people, great shopping, and dear friends. Who knows? Maybe we will even find retired pharmacist, Uncle Ed, or my cousins, Marlene and Mike. And the talented and fashionable ones, like Wendy, Damon, Tanya, and Michael. And don’t forget Lori, Ben, Victoria, Lacey, Vhleck, Colleen, and others I have left out!

Why is the Seattle vibe so, you know, so vibrant? One reason, a rather obvious one, is that the gloomy Seattle weather forces people to just keep trudging ahead, with a smile, and an obvious fierce entrepreneurial spirit. Another reason could be its melting pot constituency, much like San Francisco. Or it could be the way they blend the old with the new. And not just their famous coffee.

I plan to find the guy on the Travel Channel who adventured to Bolivia in search of the world’s best coffee. He drove the famous Bolivian “death road” in a rented SUV, and traversed across canyons over 2000 feet deep to find a lonely hilltop farmer in the hinterlands of Bolivia. The episode and series were called, Dangerous Grounds, for good reason. His name is Todd Carmichael. His search for the perfect coffee has taken him to Haiti, Ethiopia, Cuba, Vietnam, Madagascar, and Borneo, as well as Bolivia.

Did you know nearly a billion people drink coffee each morning? It is the world’s second largest commodity after oil. Todd says his favorite coffee chain is Caribou, and least favorite, Dunkin Donuts. His favorite coffee is from Ethiopia, shade grown and from high altitude. In 2008, he traveled solo to the South Pole, and has sailed solo across the Atlantic when he was in his twenties. I would say he is the perfect guy to find good coffee.

While coffee is a big deal here in Seattle, it is not the reason we have fallen for Seattle. Like most places, it is the people. We can find good food anywhere in the world. In fact, Penang, Malaysia has the BEST food in the entire world. But Seattle keeps drawing us back several times a year.

Turns out Tony Bourdain is also in Seattle this week. Insiders say he is in town to film his latest TV show called The Layover. He visited the cheese counter at Calf and Kid, and slammed a few drinks at Rob Roy. He had dinner at the more traditional Canlis, and will do a shoot at Walrus and the Carpenter. Personally, I could care less, but I guess he has become quite rich and famous from his TV shows. We did see him in 2007 when he was in Seattle for some food and a lecture at the Moore Theater.

Like many other cities, the food truck scene has hatched here in a big way. Why it took so long can be blamed on the fact that Seattle cooks are such bad drivers! (Just kidding!) I still find the food trucks in the Washington DC area to be the best, most varied, and most plentiful! And reasonably priced.

One food truck in particular, piqued my waning interest. It is called Tokyo Dog. It is comprised of a cheesy brat, furikake, tonkatsu sauce, grilled onions, Japanese mayo, and bacon bits. Sounds like a heart attack in the making. Bring your statins!

So, in a town with great food in brick and mortar buildings, the gauntlet has been tossed by the food truck scene. Let the games begin! Everybody who likes to eat will be the winners. Put me in that category.